Long Day in a Small World

Today was a really long day but for the most part it was good. I woke up early and ran to my history of Barcelona class and sat through a hour and a half long lecture about how history has shaped the layout of the city today. We also talked about why the people are the way they are and what events shaped them. We basically did an overview of the entire course today and we'll go into details from here. I'm really thankful that she is a good lecturer because othewise a 9am history class would probably bore me to death. It'll be really cool when we go on field studies outside the classroom... I think she has 3 planned throughout the semester.

After history, I went to my spanish class next door and was there for the next 2 hours and 45 minutes! I like the teacher but majority of my class came to Barcelona only to party and drink. The girl I'm always stuck sitting next to and doing partner activities with never does anything and just spends the entire class period texting on her blackberry. The worst part is that nobody else wants to sit next to her either because nobody wants to listen to clicking for nearly 3 hours. At least I'm learning everything especially well because I practically do all the activities by myself... I'll be an expert by the time the semester is over at this rate.

After class, I met up with my friend Tony who has a break at the same time as me. We went to some big plaza to eat our lunches and talked for about an hour and a half about all sorts of things... life, family, our significant others, and why we're in Barcelona. We sat next to this HUGE arch that I wish I had a picture that I could show you or be able to describe it but I forgot my camera and am not that good with words. It still amazes me how different everything is here. One big cultural difference is that when we were sitting on this wall just off the path, people would walk directly next to where we were sitting rather than letting us have our bubbles and them theirs. They have no concept of personal space here. When you're going to talk to a Spaniard, you gotta pray that they don't have bad breath or a mint at least because otherwise you'll smell it. Oh... and also, when Tony and I were talking about family, I mentioned that I have family that live around San Fransisco (where he's also from). It turns out that he and my Aunt and Uncle both live in Alameda, CA which I thought was crazy... just a small island in all of California that both of them happen to live on. The longer I'm here for the more that I realize that it is a extremely small world. How outrageous would it be if they were neighbors or lived down the street from eachother or something like that?

We walked back with 20 minutes or so to spare before our next classes. I went to find my cinema class for the first time since switching my schedule around the day before. I was the first one to sit down followed by two other girls that hadn't been there the day before either. Class started and I was still optimistic but no more than 5 minutes into the hour and a half long class period, I was half asleep. I don't know if it's the professor, the class, or the subject but I struggled to keep my eyes opened. I got through it but it wasn't exactly my cup of tea (so say my English friends). I decided with 5 minutes left in the class that since this is my semester that I'm determined to enjoy, that I would switch to another class that I enjoyed more. I left at the end of the class and changed my classes once more... this time to a class entitled "Language, Culture, and Communications" or something along those lines. It focuses on Spain and Latin America and sounds really interesting. It'll be taught in Spanish but I feel good about it because first of all I found out that I have two good friends in the class to help me out and second, I live with a family that can help me figure things out outside of class too. Lola and Carlos are both really encouraging... they thought I was crazy to be "so good at spanish" and not to be taking courses in spanish. I guess I'll likely never have the opportunity again so I figure... why not?

I took the train home after classes rather than walk like my original plan because I was absolutely exhausted. I can't believe that I'm still up right now typing but at this point, I'm on a roll with these daily blogs so I had better keep it up. I did some homework for awhile before getting the chance to talk to my friend Kelly back at Loyola and then getting called for dinner. Dinner tonight was great again (2 days without ham... I must be lucky!)... baked cauliflower, potatoes, and cheese, a salad, bread, and calamari rings. For dessert we had fruit and some of the cheesecake leftover from a couple days ago. Again, it was amazing... no jamon in my stomach!

Then after dinner, I went back to my room with a pot that Lola gave me when I asked for suggestions on what to draw for art class. I forget what she called it but I guess it's typical in Spain in small towns to keep their water cold. It's really cool because of the shadowing but kinda tough to draw. I'm attaching a picture of what I have so far next to the pot because I'm not sure that I like it. Let me know what you think I may able to do better... constructive criticism. But for now, I'm going to sleep on it and take another look in the morning. I'm pooped! It's been a long day and I'm just ready to pass out now... Talk to you soon. Adios!

PS. The pics are of Lucia with a yogurt mustache :), kiwi (yum!), my dinner tonight, and my drawing. Lola thinks I'm crazy for taking pictures of all our food but she had to admit that the kiwi picture was cool (que chullo!)